Uncharted (Treasure Hunter Security Book 2) Read online

  Cal crouched, lifting his handgun. “Who do you work for?”

  The man looked belligerently over Cal’s shoulder. Dani felt her stomach tighten. She got the feeling these weren’t simple bandits.

  “Do you work for Silk Road?” Cal asked.

  Silk Road? Everything in Dani went cold. She’d heard of them, especially their ruthless attack on the dig in Egypt in an attempt to capture the oasis of Zerzura.

  The man uttered something in another language. Even though she didn’t know what it meant, she knew it was a curse.

  Cal sighed. “The hard way, then.”

  ***

  Cal stomped through the jungle, his mind whirling.

  He’d had no luck getting their attackers to talk. They’d clammed up and said nothing. He’d left them tied up and bleeding, but that didn’t soothe his nerves.

  There was more to the attack. He was sure of it. He’d tried to contact Darcy but hadn’t had any luck getting a satellite connection.

  Dani appeared at his shoulder. “It’ll be dark soon.”

  “Yeah. We’ll make camp shortly.”

  “You’re angry.”

  He pulled in a breath. “I wanted to find out what those men wanted.”

  “You don’t think they were just after valuables?”

  “No.”

  She sighed. “Me neither.”

  Cal detected something in her voice. “What is it?”

  “One of them…I’m pretty sure he was the man who attacked me in Siem Reap and tried to snatch my camera.”

  Fuck. Cal’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t surprised. “I need to call my office.” He’d climb a tree if he had to.

  “You really think they’re Silk Road?” she asked.

  He stilled. “What do you know about Silk Road?”

  “Only what’s been in the press.”

  “I don’t know for sure, but Silk Road is dangerous. You don’t want to mess with them.”

  They’d reached a small clearing. It would have to do. He turned to face the others. “We’ll set up camp here for the night. Sam, slash some of this undergrowth away. Everyone else, get your tents up. Eat, rest.”

  Once everyone was busy, Cal pulled out his satellite phone. He had a fifty-fifty chance the thing would work in this clearing. Jungles and satellite phones were not the best of friends.

  When he turned it on, it was showing signal. He punched in the THS office number and waited.

  “God, Cal, I’ve been trying to contact you all day.” Darcy’s harried voice came through, a little crackly, but clear.

  “What’s going on, D?”

  “I got a call from Agent Arrogant and Annoying.”

  Cal choked back a laugh. Darcy’s dislike of Special Agent Alastair Burke from the FBI’s Art Crime Team was legendary. “What did he do to piss you off now?”

  “Breathe,” she said tartly. “But he sent me through some info. He got a ping on the passports of some people his team have been monitoring. People he suspects work for Silk Road.”

  Cal’s gut went hard. Looked like his instincts had been right.

  “Forty-eight hours ago, these people entered Cambodia. Their boss, a woman named Raven, has been in the country for two weeks. Burke says the rumor is they’re after some ancient artifact in the jungle.”

  The hairs on the back of Cal’s neck rose. “Fuck. D, my group was attacked a couple of hours ago. No one’s hurt…except the attackers. They were trying to look like thieves out to rob us, but I knew there was something off about them.”

  “Cal, you need to be careful.” He could hear his sister tapping on a keyboard. “Have your archeologists mentioned any valuable artifacts? Silk Road doesn’t go for stone statues and ruined temples. They want rare, unique, and priceless.”

  “Nothing like that. An old temple that’s probably falling to pieces.”

  “You need help.” More tapping. “I’m contacting Logan and Morgan now. I’ll have them there as soon as I can.”

  Other than Declan, Cal couldn’t think of two people he’d prefer to have at his back in a fight. “Okay. Hopefully it’ll be nothing, and we’ll have blown money on flights for nothing.”

  “Hopefully,” Darcy said, doubt coloring her voice.

  “Okay, my darling D. I have to go.”

  “Take care of yourself, Callum. And don’t miss your next scheduled check-in. If you’re even a minute late, I’m sending in an army.”

  “Roger that.”

  A short while later, he stood, his back against a tree, munching on a pre-packed meal, and listening to the archeologists talking. They had a small, battery-powered lantern set up, and they were huddled around it. They seemed to be recovering from the attack.

  Dani moved out of the darkness. “Wow, it is really dark in the jungle.”

  Cal nodded. “You did well today, when we were attacked.”

  “Thanks.”

  He grabbed her arm. “But you shouldn’t have argued with me. You should have listened and stayed safe.”

  In the dim light, he saw her stubborn chin lift. “You may as well save your breath.”

  Yeah, he figured she was going to say something like that. “I don’t want you hurt.”

  He felt the tension in her muscles ease a little. “Did your sister have any news?”

  “Yes. Several Silk Road mercenaries are in the country and looking for an artifact in the jungle. They’re thieves who are known to stop at nothing to get their hands on valuable artifacts.”

  She was quiet for a second. “What would they want with a ruined temple?”

  “That’s the question of the day.” He straightened. “You should get some rest. We have another big day tomorrow.”

  “And you? Are you going to rest?”

  “I’ll catch a few hours. Goodnight, Dani. Sleep well.” He watched her walk away. He wasn’t planning to sleep. He was going to stay on guard through the night.

  If Silk Road was out here and after his group, they were going to have to go through him to get to them.

  Chapter Six

  Logan O’Connor sat at the bar, nursing a beer, the clack of balls on the pool tables behind him.

  Someone moved up beside him.

  “Hey there. Looking for some company?”

  He turned and looked at the woman. Generous curves, a cloud of brown hair, and a wide smile.

  “Nope.” He lifted his beer.

  The woman regrouped and leaned against the bar. “Oh, come on. Everyone likes to have some fun.”

  Yeah, once he had. Once he’d been dumb enough to fall for a pretty face and a lush body. It had almost cost him his life and had cost a good man the ability to walk.

  “I said no,” he growled.

  The woman made a sound. “No need to be rude.” She stormed off.

  “Another one bites the dust.” Morgan slid onto the stool beside him.

  “Not interested.”

  “You know, beneath all your wild and shaggy, there’s a good man in there somewhere. A good woman might smooth out those rough edges of yours.”

  Logan took another long drag of his beer. He was grateful he didn’t have any sisters. Between Morgan and Darcy, he had all the meddling women he could handle.

  “We could get started on you not having a man.”

  Morgan sniffed. “I haven’t found one who can keep up with me.”

  Logan grunted. He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket a second before it started ringing. He pulled it out. “O’Connor.”

  “Logan, thank God.” Darcy’s worried voice.

  Logan pushed his beer away and straightened. “What is it?”

  “I need you and Morgan to get to the airport. I’ve organized a commercial flight for you both to Cambodia. The jet’s on the East Coast to pick up Ronin and Hale.”

  She was talking a mile a minute. “Slow down. Take a breath.”

  “It’s Cal. He needs help. Silk Road is in Cambodia and they attacked his team. They’re all right, but he needs help.”<
br />
  Shit. “You’re sure it’s Silk Road?”

  Darcy’s voice soured. “Agent Know-it-all contacted me. He passed the info along. We have no idea what they’re after, but Logan, I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”

  Logan nodded his head toward the door and Morgan slid off her stool. “Morgan’s with me. We’ll spin by our places, grab our gear, and get to the airport.” Moments later, he was striding across the bar parking lot toward his truck. “Don’t worry, we’ll get there as soon as we can. And Cal’s tough, smart, and fast. He can keep ahead of Silk Road.”

  He heard Darcy swallow. “I know.”

  Logan unlocked his truck and climbed inside. Morgan slid into the passenger seat. He started the engine. “Darcy, you work your magic. Have a vehicle and gear waiting for us when we land. We’ll get to the jungle and find Cal.”

  She pulled in a deep breath. “I know you’re worried, too. You haven’t even bitched about going to the jungle.”

  “Hate the mosquitos. And the humidity sucks, too.”

  Darcy let out a small laugh. “Okay, okay, don’t start. Find him, Logan.”

  Logan gunned his truck out of the parking lot. “Count on it.”

  ***

  Cal slashed at the vines. He was a little gritty-eyed this morning, but he was used to going without sleep.

  The archeologists had bounced back after a good night’s sleep, and seemed to have shrugged off yesterday’s attack. They were following behind him, their conversation upbeat.

  They knew they’d reach the temple soon.

  He glanced back and saw Dani bringing up the rear. She’d braided her hair today, and more than anything, he wanted to tear that hair tie out and work those curls between his hands.

  With a muttered curse, he turned back to the jungle. He had to have the woman soon, or desire was going to drive him out of his mind.

  He cut through some more vines and undergrowth. At least, there’d been no sign of anyone else in the jungle with them. He was praying this entire Silk Road thing was nothing.

  Then he pulled up short.

  He’d stumbled onto a clearing.

  Sunlight shone down on a stone arch, with the trees growing over the top of it. Beyond the arch there appeared to be a pathway.

  He paused. It was moments like this that made his job rewarding. Discovering these things that no one had seen for hundreds or thousands of years.

  “God.” A grinning Gemma pushed forward. “Guys, look at this.”

  “It has to be the path leading to the temple,” Sakada said. “We must not have much farther to go.”

  Sam stepped forward, studying his map. “We don’t. It looks like the temple is down that stone pathway.”

  They continued on. Cal strapped his machete to his belt. The stone pathway was uneven now, and the jungle vegetation was growing through and around it. But it meant the plant life hadn’t grown as thickly here.

  He could hear Dani’s camera clicking as she captured every moment.

  They kept moving, and then he heard gasps from the team.

  He looked up and felt his chest tighten. Hell, he hadn’t even noticed it at first. The entire temple was overgrown with green vegetation.

  It was as tall as the trees and shaped like a step pyramid. Damn. It looked more like the Mayan pyramids Cal had seen in Central America, than the temples of Angkor. Each of the five levels was smaller than the one before it, covered in a carpet of green vegetation.

  “This makes every boring dig I’ve ever been on worth it,” Gemma murmured.

  The others all broke out into laughter and ecstatic exclamations. They all hurried forward toward the ruined temple.

  Even Dani was grinning from behind the camera.

  “It looks like the seven-tier pyramid of Prasat Thom at Koh Ker,” Sakada said, his gaze glued to the temple. “This one is smaller, of course, but the design is similar.”

  “It is amazing.” Dr. Oakley glanced at Cal. “We need to get inside.”

  Cal hacked away more vegetation, and led them to the doorway at the center of what he guessed was the front of the temple. He looked up, marveling again at the construction.

  Dr. Oakley’s shoulders drooped. “It’s blocked up with rocks.”

  Rubble filled the entrance. “Sam, can you give me a hand?” Cal gripped one of the large rocks. Sam grabbed the other end and together they heaved the boulder away. Sakada and Jean-Luc followed suit with the next rock.

  They quickly found a rhythm of heaving and rolling, and were soon making progress.

  “Mmm, nothing like watching strong men flexing their muscles and lifting heavy things,” Gemma said.

  Sam grunted. “You could come and help. I’m all for gender equality.”

  Gemma sniffed. “I’m not sure hauling rocks is going to help with women’s rights.”

  Cal ignored them and focused on the entry. He could see a gap through the rocks. “Not much more, and we’ll be able to get through.”

  It took a little more lifting and straining, but they finally cleared a space large enough to enter.

  Dr. Oakley had pulled out flashlights, and eagerly stepped forward, flicking on the strong beam of light.

  The other archeologists moved in behind him. As they exclaimed at the engravings on the walls, their excitement was palpable.

  Cal grinned at Dani. “Feels pretty good, huh?”

  She nodded, taking a few more shots of the darkened entrance. “This is my first lost temple. I’m usually trying to take pictures around the tourists…this is amazing.” She lifted the camera again.

  Cal reached up and pushed it back down. Her gaze met his. “Experience it without the camera, first. Just for a minute. Look at the carvings, here.” He ran his hand over the faint engravings bordering the doorway. “No one has seen these for hundreds of years. We’re making history, Dani.”

  Her gaze drifted over the wall.

  “Stop thinking about getting the perfect shot. What do you feel?”

  “Excited. Exhilarated. Energized.”

  Exactly how he felt. And all of it was revolving around the woman in front of him. He touched the shell of her ear. “Good, isn’t it? It makes you feel alive. What we feel, that’s really all we have.” He backed her up a few steps, until her back hit the rock wall.

  Her breathing increased, her chest rising and falling against his. Her gaze never left his.

  “Emotions can be fleeting, Cal. Excitement, lust, desire, love… Here one minute, gone the next. And afterward, you’re left with nothing.”

  He pressed his hands to the wall on either side of her head. “It doesn’t have to be that way.” He lowered his head until his lips were a breath away from hers. “Right here, right this instant, it’s just you and me. No camera between us, no one else to get in the way.” He lowered his voice. “I want you, Dani. So damn much.”

  She made a sound and threw her arms around his shoulders. Her mouth slammed against his.

  With a groan, he thrust his tongue into her mouth and pulled her close. He moved a thigh between her legs, feeling the warmth of her against him. God, she kissed with a hunger that set him on fire. He yanked his lips from hers and pressed a trail of kisses down her neck. The scent of her filled him and, helpless to stop himself, he nipped at her skin, and when she made choked little moans, he smiled.

  “Cal? Dani? Where are you guys?”

  Dr. Oakley’s voice was like a splash of cold water.

  Cal pulled back, willing his hammering pulse to slow. “Later.” It was a promise he intended to keep. Something in him was very hungry for this woman, and it wouldn’t be held off much longer.

  She lifted her chin, her eyes hot. “Later.”

  As she headed down the tunnel into the temple, Cal took a second to adjust himself. His cock was hard as iron. A second later, he followed her.

  ***

  Dani stepped out of the entrance tunnel and into an open room.

  A gasp tangled in her throat. The entire i
nside of the pyramid was hollow. One large room, where all the walls were engraved with fabulous scenes—undamaged, and in beautiful condition.

  She was reeling—both from the temple discovery and Cal’s kiss. The man was right. She felt incredibly alive.

  Hearing him behind her and excruciatingly aware of his presence, she lifted her camera. It was time to get to work and put her distractions aside. As he moved up beside her, bumping his shoulder against hers, she realized just how hard it was to put her number one distraction out of her mind. A man like Callum Ward was hard to ignore.

  But as she focused on the fantastic engravings on the wall of the temple, it didn’t take long for her to fall into the groove of taking her shots. She moved around the temple, taking pictures of the brilliant artwork, engraved with such care and dedication.

  She turned the camera on the team. God…their faces. Jean-Luc looked like he wanted to sit down and pray. Dr. Oakley was smiling, his countenance filled with reverence. Gemma was busy scribbling notes, Sam taking photos, and Sakada was focused on deciphering the text.

  Drawn to the fabulous bas-reliefs on the wall—of sensuous dancing women, incredible beasts, and fearsome naga—Dani burned through her memory card. She stopped to slot another one in. She could stay in here all day, capturing the art on the walls. She wished for some better light, but she could work with what she had. She imagined these walls had a story to tell, and she longed to decipher the images and text.

  She moved along the walls, taking shots of everything. At the back wall of the temple, she paused. Intricate images of people with elaborate headdresses, all seated with their legs crossed, larger gods, and amazing beasts—lions, deer and some animals she couldn’t identify—all filled the walls. They circled the image of a large, oval-shaped stone. The mythical linga of Mahendraparvata.

  She worked her way back around, and then she noticed Cal, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the team intently.

  Dani snapped a shot of him—that tough, serious face. She realized now he was quick to smile and charm, but as the images of him fighting those men who’d attacked them flashed in her head, she now knew he could also be serious and deadly. An intriguing contrast.